We shall not, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved
We're young and old together, we shall not be
moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved
We shall not, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved
Just like a tree that's standing by the water
We shall not be moved
yes, straight and gay together we shall not be
moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved
We
shall not be moved is one of those classic American Folk Hymns that grew out of
the experience of American slavery and became a cornerstone of the Civil Rights
movement. Sadly we are being forced to
sing it again on the streets of cities across the country and notably in
Minneapolis. There are tons of verses to
fit every cause. But what it really grew
out of is this Psalm we read today. “ It
is well with those who deal generously and lend, who
conduct their affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved;
they will be remembered forever..”
I
want to spend some time with this Psalm today and take a look at why I think it
is the crux of the messages we hear today in our lessons.
Above
all the Psalms are a rich source of praise, confession, intercession, petition,
and thanksgiving. If we were in Sunday
School I would mention that those are the five fingers of prayer…. Petition, confession, intercession,
thanksgiving and praise. That’s one of
those core learnings for confirmation class….
Five fingered prayers…. Petition,
confession, intercession, thanksgiving and praise. But I digress.
The
Psalms reach down into the depths of human experience and give words to those
things that we struggle to articulate.
The psalms open up our hearts to release the fear and anger we feel and to
encourage us to embrace God’s love and wonder.
Sadly though I do not believe that our culture speaks the language of
the faithful any longer. In a world
where social norms and decency have been catapulted into oblivion by bullying,
petty insults, obscenities, and bald-faced lies by people in authority - the
Psalms ground us once again in the ways that God desires us to treat our
neighbors – no exceptions. They affirm our notion that we are indeed
created in God’s image and destined to be in relationship with God and each
other.
Psalm 112 is classified as a wisdom
psalm. Similar in tone to the Book or
Proverbs or Job. Our translation does
not do it justice as in Hebrew (so my reference manual tells me…..) the verses
are acrostic, meaning the first letter of each line proceeds in sequence in the
Hebrew alphabet. Scholars believe that
was intended to make the psalm easier to memorize. The overall tone projects a world in which
those who obey God’s commandments are happy, while those who do not are pretty
miserable.
After
the initial Hallelujah Psalm 112 falls into three distinct sessions. The first section vv 1-3 opens with how happy
the followers of God are and the blessings they receive, the second vv 4-6 tells
us that the faithful not only walk in God’s light but they also spread light during
periods of darkness. And v 6 in
particular hearkens to our protest song…
“For the righteous will never be moved;
they will be remembered forever”. The final section vv 7-9 sums up the
prosperity of those who are faithful sort of states the qualifications for the
person. It is the longest section and
has a call and response pattern of things you should do and things you should
not do. They are not afraid, they will
prevail in the end, their faithfulness will be remembered. ….The drive here for me and I think for
protest movements over the years is that there is hope even when it seems as
though the oppressor is insurmountable. We
shall not, We shall not be moved…. I am
reminded of Dr King’s statement of hope in the face of injustice and
oppression…. “The
arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,"
Now
I suppose that one might read this Psalm and decide that it is unrealistic
given our world today and so why try.
The Greek historian Thucydides writing about the Peloponnesian War coined
the phrase “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they
must. There is not much hope in that
statement but given the headlines these days it is hard to argue with
Thucydides
Instead
of speaking the truth from the heart we are daily confronted with “alternative
facts”. Today people are being singled
out, ridiculed, and mistreated because of the color of their skin, the language
they speak, the faith they profess, or the person they choose to love. And when we try to invoke Micah’s call to
humility, kindness, and justice that we heard last Sunday, we are dismissed as
tree-hugging, elitist nutjobs. The
notion of sharing the affluence in this country is not even in the
conversation. It would be easy to simply
throw up my hands and give up trying. But
you know… that is exactly why in our
baptismal covenant our response to the questions asked is “I will with God’s
help” Not I will…. But I will with God’s help. You see as members of the Body of Christ we
hope and we believe that with God all things are possible.
Given
the tenor of the Psalms, I think this psalm actually expresses an unquenchable
desire to be part of a community where people are generous, where justice
matters, where together we shed light in the dark places - with blessing
boxes, with beautiful music, with kind words of greeting, and where all are welcomed
at the Table. Even as we know that such
generosity, such perfection is unattainable, we deeply desire to keep trying
and we hold fast to the hope that God’s forgiveness recognizes that we are
fallible and God loves us anyway. That
is the crazy foolishness that Paul is talking about – even as we fall flat on
our faces we know that God has already interceded on our behalf and that God also
desires deeply to be in relationship with us.
And furthermore Paul tells us, when we are in relationship with God we
do so through the mind of Christ.
We
don’t often hear the psalms preached – at least not from me. That’s kind of sad actually, because there
are not very many volumes of poetry or prose that strike more deeply at the fears,
frustrations, anger, joy, and love that are common to all of us than do these
songs of David. Ancient, penetrating,
truth-telling, hopeful, confident… the
psalms are all of these things.
Paired
with Isaiah and Paul and Jesus we have a daunting challenge and a profound
hope. The daunting challenge is that scripture
is pretty direct in telling us how we are to live our lives. We are to break the yoke of the oppressor, we
are to share our bread with the hungry, we are to be… light and salt to a
hurting and hungry world. Isaiah, the Psalm,
Paul and Jesus are really clear that we are not to be onlookers only = we are
to be involved implementors in the Kingdom of God. And the profound hope is that all of this is
a done deal because God (Jesus and Holy Spirit) have got our backs. Just
like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved….. The prophet Isaiah assures
us:
“Your
ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you
shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.” Is 58:12
that’s
a promise we can take to the bank. Amen
